Make Your Toyota Prius A Top Quality Generator With This Neat Add On

Yes it will work with the RAV4 the website is plugoutpower.com be aware that you have to pay someone to install the high voltage plug. Look for a shop that specializes in Prius repair that isn’t a dealer.

Before you buy this system figure out how much power you would need in an emergency. If you have electric heat (live in the south) you can not run that system from this. You’ll have to use an electric space heaters and shelter in a small room. I think a space heater on high can use 12.5A or 1500w. If all you are worried about is a fridge, space heater, and a TV/PC you should be fine with a pure sine wave 12 Inverter that is 2500w those cost a lot less and can be installed by anyone. Your car can support around 1500w continuous. When you go over 1500 watts the 12V battery will go down and when you go under it will go back up. You are probably thinking… well that’s not enough but in my experience living in the Midwest on a cold day a space heater on medium will keep a small room nice and toasty. Your refrigerator only runs periodically and a small TV or PC use a few hundred watts. You just need to make sure the inverter you buy can run everything at the same time. Like I said if it’s all on at the same time and exceeds the amount of 12V your car can create then you’ll slowly drain the 12V battery.

I personally have 3 deep cycle 12V batteries as a buffer. This gives me plenty of time. My inverter cost $600 and does 4000w continuous 8000 peak.

I mounted it all to a small dolly I lay the seats back and get someone to help lift the dolly into the car and then hook it up. If you don’t think you need the extra batteries then you don’t need a dolly.

Tons of people do it the way I do it. It costs less and you don’t need an EV specialist to install anything.

Right now the 5kva version is $2600 plus say $400 to install that box (2HR job). Compared to a Honda generator the can do 5000w continuously it’s not a bad deal. The Honda costs $2500. During a multi day power outage you are looking at adding fuel 3x a day and burning more than 13 gallons of fuel a day. With a hybrid you do not burn fuel while idle (engine shuts off) the engine runs at full volumetric efficiency and if you have a plug in hybrid the engine won’t even start for 6-24 HRs maybe more. My i3 REx lasted 2 days before the engine turned on but it has a very large battery and I was only pulling 1000-2000 watts at any given time.

All that said if your average needs are below 1500 watts then you don’t need this system. You can buy a 2000-4000w inverter and wire it to your 12V battery. Anytime you go above the ability of your vehicle DC-DC converter you will draw from the 12V battery anytime you are below your DC-DC ability your 12V will charge. Most DC-DC are 1400-2000 watts usually 1500-1800w

But if you need 5kw then no generator can compare to it. It’s safer, quieter, more reliable, easier to move, holds more fuel, is 2-10x more efficient, and has some battery storage if it’s plugged in.

This systems cost reflects s situation where it costs much more than the sum of its parts.

They are offering a nearly turn key solution. If you know what you are doing you can do this on a $1000 budget. But you wouldn’t have that neat little safe disconnect box!